Some Call it Murder
by denpa wave chick saki
Summary: In which a witch learns that getting what you want always comes at a price.


The Witch had had enough of this foolery. Liir and the Lion were going to come up soon, which meant that she did not have much time left to deal with this wretched girl. She chased up further up the tower and the two emerged on the parapet. The Witch found the girl huddled near the edge, retching on the stones.

"You haven't answer my question," she said, raising her torch, casting dancing shadows along the stones. "Why will you murder me?" The Witch slammed the door behind her and locked it, causing the girl to gasp. "You think your presence has gone unnoticed? You think people haven't been telling stories about you?"

"Please—"

"You think I don't know the Wizard sent you to bring proof that I'm dead?"

"Please I could never—"

"So you admit it!"

"I could never murder anyone!"

"And yet my sister is dead!"

"Please, I didn't come to kill you!"

"You can't be a competent liar, not with that face!"

"I'm telling the truth! I came to ask you… what I wanted to ask is…"

"What?" the Witch cried, on the edge of her sanity.

"If you could ever forgive me for killing your sister, because I never could!"

The Witch let out a shriek of panic and disbelief. Even now, after all this time… Elphaba, who had endured Sarima's refusal of forgiveness, was now being begged by this wretched girl for that very thing! How could one give it from their own hollowness?

A small drop of lit oil fell from the torch and onto the edge of the Witch's cloak, immediately sending it up in flames.

"Oh will this nightmare never end?" Dorothy said. She grabbed a bucket of rainwater that had become illuminated by the sudden flare, and she hurled the water at the Witch.

The Witch's eyes widened at the sight and time seemed to slow. She could feel the heat of the flames as it ate up her cloak, the flames dancing as they had in their fireplace at Shiz…

"_Do you mind if I sit here?"_

"_You cast a shadow if you sit just there."_

"_Oh sorry. Mustn't cast shadows when urgent words are waiting to be read."_

Shiz… so far away... she could see the crest of the water as it left the bucket and came towards her.

"_Perhaps we'll go out in a boat and it'll TIP OVER and you'll drown!"_

Her mother… Melena… the Witch realized she had started to follow that same downward spiral her mother had. Even her father had seen his wife in his oldest daughter. The Witch closed her eyes. She was ready… death would be welcome.

"I will save you!"

The Witch's eyes snapped open at that. The flow of time returned to normal as she ducked to the side, hearing the water splash into the stone wall behind her. In one swift move, she shucked her burning cloak and caught the girl by the throat, holding her over the edge.

"I don't _want_ to be saved!" the Witch growled.

Dorothy gripped the Witch's arm in fear, knowing it was a deadly drop off the tower. "P-please—"

"Saving implies a soul, which I do not, and care not, to have, as a soul lives on after death, and that means nothing but everlasting torture!"

The girl could no longer reply, as terror had her entirely in its grasp.

The Witch considered dropping her off the edge and being done with it, but something tugged at her… a conscience perhaps? Though the Witch had long ago written that off as silenced… what was stopping her from simply releasing her hold on this wretched brat?

_I'm not a murderer._

Yes, it was true. She was a lot of things: wicked… a witch… but not heartless. Not yet, anyway. And so, with the last shred of her humanity, the Witch pulled the farm girl back over, setting her feet down on the stones before releasing her. Dorothy, her legs trembling, collapsed back as the Witch took a few steps away from her, casting her gaze down to her slightly smoldering cloak.

"Go… get out of my sight," the Witch said in a low voice.

"Wh-what?"

"You heard me. Go!"

"B-but, you sister's shoes…"

"I said go, before I change my mind!" The Witch picked the cloak up, running her fingers over the worn material. She heard the girl get to her feet and berated herself for being weak. She knew that it was kill or be killed in this heartless time… Oz was not the place it had once been.

"Please, I—" The girl was cut off by a sudden cracking noise. The Witch spun around in time to see the edge of the parapet crumbling away… and taking the girl with it. The Witch's eyes widened at the sight and purely out of instinct, she lunged forward in an attempt to save the girl who had been sent to kill her.

Her verdant hand brushed against a pale one for a fraction of a second… and then the girl was gone, only having time to scream.

The Witch saw the fear in the girl's eyes, and though she had seen many horrid sights in her life, the Witch could not bear to watch the girl's body hit the ground. She turned her head away, closing her eyes as the sound of impact soon reached her ears, coinciding with a crack of thunder.

Only after a few minutes had passed could she bear to look over the edge of the parapet at the broken body on the ground below. So it had come to this: Elphaba Thropp, whose mind had begun to unravel the day she had lost the love of her life… Elphaba Thropp, who had endured years of abuse and neglect… Elphaba Thropp, who had been branded a wicked witch and had lost the last person she tried to save... this was where she was: standing on the edge of Kiamo Ko, looking down at the corpse of young child who had been thrust into an unknown land and had wanted nothing more than to return home.

Did she feel anything? No. Did that scare her? The Witch didn't know, seeing as she had long ago resigned herself to the fact that feelings were merely inconvenient and had refused to give into them anymore. This girl was no different than the any other person or Animal who died in Oz daily.

_But she is different because I could have saved her._

No. The Witch knew she had to push those types of thoughts from her mind, or she would lose herself completely. And, she figured, there was one good thing to come from this: she could finally get Nessa's shoes, which were rightfully hers all along.

The Witch decided to stop her musings as she headed back through the door and made her way down the tower steps. Halfway down, however, her progress was impeded.

"What happened? What did you do to Dorothy?" Liir cried, blocking her path.

"I did nothing to her."

"Then where is she?"

"Get out of my way. I have business to attend to."

"What did you do to her, you old hag?"

The Witch let out a growl as she grabbed the young boy. "You pick the worst times to develop character. Now get out of my way!" She thrust him aside as she continued down the stairs, moving quicker than before. Every second she wasted was a second those shoes still weren't in her hands and could be whisked away again.

The Witch emerged into the main room and strode quickly across the floor, her footsteps echoing off the empty stones. A sudden roar caught her attention, as its intensity shook even the ceiling beams. The Witch turned just in time to be knocked off her feet by the Lion. She hit the floor hard and clenched her jaw as she let out a low growl.

"You killed her!" the Lion shouted.

"She would have killed me."

"Dorothy came to apologize! She would never—"

"Her death was nothing of my doing! Now let me up!" The Witch tried to push the Animal off her, but he didn't budge. He instead bared his teeth and growled at her, his fangs mere inches from her face.

"You witch!"

"We all know what I am, and you can choose to believe what you want. Now get off. I have no intention of harming you."

"Lies!"

The Witch had had quite enough of this. The shoes were right within her grasp, but even in death, that wretched girl was keeping them from her!

"I said GET OFF!" The Witch managed to get her feet under the Lion's stomach and, using what strength she had, shoved the Animal away. She quickly got to her feet as he rolled once before standing. "I had no intention of killing her! She fell and that's all that happened. It was through no fault of mine."

The Lion let out a roar as he lunged for the Witch again. She jumped back, drawing her golden knife, just as his claws lashed out and caught her arm, slicing through not only the fabric of her sleeve, but her skin as well. The Witch hardly acknowledged the pain as she threw her knife, which sunk into the Lion's leg. He let out a roar of pain before stumbling back with a whimper.

"I saved you once as a cub. Do not test my kindness further," the Witch said, pointing a verdant finger at the Animal. The Lion, having been struck hard enough to draw blood, cowered away from the Witch, his one time courage gone. The Witch turned on her heel and started for the door again.

"YOU KILLED HER!"

The Witch knew that voice. She could hear Liir running after her, but she ignored him. That is until a wave of water hit the stone floor inches from her. The Witch jumped back and whipped around to glare at the young boy running after her, the bucket of water still sloshing in his hand.

"Liir, you ungrateful brat! I told you, it wasn't my intention!"

Liir made to throw more water at her, but the Witch jumped back. Even now, that wretched girl had everyone set against her! The green woman turned and ran across the room, bursting out the doors. Her sharp eyes scanned the ground, soon falling on the corpse of Dorothy, lying in a puddle of coagulating blood. The Witch had barely taken a few steps forward before she felt a sudden burning sensation in the back of her legs. She stumbled and was suddenly brought to the ground by the very life she had brought into the world.

"Liir, I swear to Oz—"

"She didn't do anything to you, and you killed her!"

"She would have killed me! Really, Liir, you only saw her once! You cannot possibly be that in love with her!"

"You don't know what love is, you heartless witch!"

The Witch paused at that statement, holding back her answer that she did, in fact, know what love was and that she herself had been the victim of love's abuse.

"_Hold out, if you can. Hold out, my sweet."_

She chose to say nothing, but rolled sharply, throwing her son off to the side. "You would do well to just keep your mouth shut before I tie your tongue in a knot!" she said, getting to her feet. She finally reached the body and stooped down, taking the slippers off. Even as she held them in her hands, something didn't feel right. The Witch had perhaps expected to feel empowered at having them… but she felt nothing.

"Well… you got what you wanted… now tell me: was it worth it?"

The familiar voice caused the Witch to freeze, and her heart nearly stopped. Slowly, she turned, and prepared to face her past.


End file.
